52 THE VENOMS OF CERTAIN THANATOPHIDEJI. 



day it will be found that the muscles on the injected side about the region of the 

 cedema are pale and bloodless, having the appearance of half-cooked chicken meat. 

 In animals which lived longer there was sometimes found considerable congestion, 

 marked by greenish streaks, and giving off horrible putrefactive odors. In others 

 beneath the (edematous swelling lay a cavity about an inch in diameter, which 

 was full of broken-down tissue, having a muddy, gangrenous appearance, and 

 decidedly putrescent, while the surrounding muscular tissues were not apparently 

 altered in appearance. In none of these experiments were ecchymoses found in 

 the intestines, and in all of them the blood was coagulable. 



In the" following experiment Crotalus peptone obtained by dialysis was at 2:37 

 injected into the breast of a pigeon; 3:15 weak; 3:50 rocking slightly, no local 

 discoloration, some slight cedematous swelling; 4:00 more unsteady on its feet; 

 5:45 there was considerable watery effusion in the subcutaneous cellular tissue on 

 the side of the injection. The following afternoon there was a large swelling 

 over the site of the wound. It was an inch or more above the healthy skin, 

 and was apparently purely cedematous in character, there being no dark discolora- 

 tion nor appearances of congestion. The superficial local effect was in every way 

 unlike that produced by the globulins. The following afternoon (after 48 hours) 

 the pigeon died. The swelling was unaltered as to size, and but very little 

 discolored. The tissues around it were slightly darkened, the coloration fading 

 away gradually at about one-half inch from the border, and there was a well-defined 

 pale streak of tissue between the swelling and the surrounding tissue like a line of 

 demarcation. Upon cutting into the tumor serum dropped from the incision, and 

 the subcutaneous cellular tissue was found greatly infiltrated. The swelling seemed 

 to be almost entirely cedematous and the serum had a putrefactive odor. The mus- 

 cular tissues were greatly congested and somewhat blackened, and in places as green 

 as though infiltrated with bile. This green appearance could be seen distinctly 

 through the skin on the surface of the superficial muscles, extending over the 

 entire side of the breast. The odor emanating from the cut muscles was also putre- 

 factive. In the intermuscular tissues there was some greenish gelatinous matter. 

 Beneath the swelling was a streak of muscular tissue about one-fourth of an inch 

 thick, which was very pale, like half-stewed meat, contrasting strongly with the 

 other parts of the muscles. 



All of these observations on slow poisoning were made with peptone derived 

 from the venoms of the Crotalus adamanteus or the Moccasin. 



Judging from the fact that the venom peptone does not give rise to any darken- 

 ing of the muscular tissues within a short time after injection, and indeed, as it 

 seems probable, not until putrefaction has set in, it is likely that the darkening 

 and congestion which ultimately occur are to be regarded as mere secondary 

 effects, and due to putrefactive changes induced by the poison. 



The peptones, whether obtained by boiling or dialysis, seem to cause locally an 

 enormous cedema, gradual breaking down of the tissues, and rapid production of 

 horrible putrefactive processes, with finally a more or less extensive slough. They 

 possess little power to produce large hemorrhages, because they do not so well as 

 venom globulin destroy the coagulability of the blood. Hence in peptone 



